RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

About the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

We celebrated our 25th anniversary in 2015

In 2015 we celebrated the 25th year of the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. There were lots of themed events to mark the anniversary including silver anniversary floristry, historic gardens and scarecrows celebrating the past. As ever, Hampton Court's famous rose displays wowed visitors in the Festival of Roses marquee, with a historical theme throughout.

A brief history of the show

The show was first held in 1990 and created by Historic Royal Palaces and Network Southeast. In 1992 Network Southeast announced that it was withdrawing its subsidy, and the RHS was the successful bidder to take the show over. The first RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show was held in 1993, and it has gone on to become the world’s largest flower show. For the first Hampton Court Palace Shows, Network Southeast laid on special trains from Waterloo, and the railway porters all wore carnations in their hats.

Did you know...

It takes three weeks to build a show garden & two weeks to build a small garden - but they're dismantled in just three days.

An average of 130,000 people attend the show every year.

The Floral Marquee is 6,750 square metres, big enough to fit an FA football pitch, it will feature more than 100 nurseries and growers in 2015.

The British Rose Festival was introduced in the second show, in 1991.

There are seven exhibitors that have taken part in every show since 1990: Blackmore & Langdon, The Botanic Nursery, Fibrex Nurseries, Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, Southfield Nursery, Squires Garden Centre and WS Warmenhoven.

During show week, visitors consume:

48,501 cups of fair-trade tea and coffee

15,029 rounds of sandwiches and 1,500 baguettes

14,274 glasses of Pimm's

14,868 glasses of champagne

5,598 flower pot muffins

4,357 slices of cakes

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How to exhibit

Exhibiting at an RHS Flower Show offers you an enviable platform to sell and market your company. Wide media coverage across TV, radio, newspapers and the web gives exhibitors a unique promotional advantage.